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About this project

"Freq. is a fantastic technology and the possibilities it generates are very
exciting. Music and video games have long had a symbiotic relationship, but
Freq. takes that to the next level. Seeing how it alters not just a game's
visuals but even its gameplay, according to the music that is played is almost magical. By doing that, it allows gamers to get a more personal,
unique experience from their games, and it also offers music acts, both new
and old, a means of bringing their efforts to a new audience. I've played
Freq.Trigger, the first game for the platform, and found it very enjoyable,
and can't wait to see where this fascinating platform can go in the future."

- Steve Boxer, games writer for The Guardian

What the Game Offers

Play your music

Think of your music as levels

Music alters virtually every aspect of the game

Every song provides a unique gaming experience

Play along to your favourite songs and
upload your scores to a website scoreboard

Take part in competitions with your favourite music

Check out great new bands - each update comes bundled with new music by
up-and-coming artists, showcasing new talent

All the music in the video comes bundled with the first game

Music changes everything :-)

Why are we raising funds?

We're raising funds to complete the development of the first video game and the supporting website.

The Game

Freq.Trigger is a 2D top-down physics-based shooter which responds to music. Choose whatever music you have in your library and the game will change accordingly. Think of your music as an endless supply of levels to suit your mood. The music modifies both game mechanics and gameplay influencing what enemies appear, when they appear, how many appear, how fast they move, how they behave, when they attack and with what weapons. As we like to say: music changes everything - turning every tune you own into a unique gaming experience.

Upload scores to your favourite songs and take part in competitions to fantastic music!

We have already built the sophisticated audio analysis engine which turns your music into a unique gaming experience. It's fully working, fully functional (we call it Audio Kernel). And we have almost finished the first game that takes advantage of this technology - Freq.Trigger!

What are we going to do with the money?

We're raising funds to complete the final set of features we need to finish the game. Features we think you're going to love. Features like:

Crescendo Mode - Let the music work you into a frenzy, turning your ship into a fiery comet of death. Bestowing both invulnerability and touch-of-death for a limited duration.

Woo Ray - constructed from salvage collected from enemy wreckage, the Woo Ray enables you to charm enemies so that they fight for you!

Freq.Bucks - which you can earn by completing achievements, uploading scores, taking part in competitions (and of course backing this project!)

Upgrades - enhance the capabilities of your ship by spending the Freq.Bucks you earn to upgrade key systems such as weapons and shields. There are dozens of potential upgrades we want to squeeze into the game - and we're even giving people the chance to have an upgrade named after you!

Achievements - We have identified hundreds of achievements, we just need to build them into the game.

The supporting website - The online scoreboard is an essential part of the experience, showcasing top players, frequent players, popular music (the Freq.Charts!), new bands, forthcoming competitions and past winners. Plus profile pages and other community / social networking tools.

Testing/Balancing/Tweaking - A great game requires polish, and this is where the bulk of it is applied. Whilst the build so far has been fully-tested and tweaked and all is working fine. This aspect of work is an essential element for any additional features, and alas takes time and money.

Don't have an iPhone? Don't worry!

Whilst this project is about finishing the development of an iPhone game - our intention, and a very palpable stretch-goal - is to rebuild this puppy in Unity, so we can deploy to numerous other platforms: PC, XBLA, Android etc. So please still back! - as you'll be helping us go multi-platform! If you don't want an iPhone version of the game as part of your reward, let us know you're preferred platform and we can deliver you that version once its complete.

So that's what we've got, what we've done, and what else we want to do. This is how we're going to do it:

The Team

Fortunately we have a passionate and dedicated team with a background in game development, website development, audio programming, music, graphics and sound. Lead by an enthusiastic games designer and experienced, fully qualified project manager to make it all happen.

People who have previously worked for companies such as Sony, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Konami, Rare and Bizarre Creations.

Bonus Material

Freq.Trigger - whilst it allows you to play any song on your device - it also comes bundled with seven original tracks from new artists. Part of the Freq. mission is to provide a new platform for new artists to showcase their work! Another stretch-goal will be to provide an area of the website for people to submit original music they'd like to see in a subsequent version of the game (or future Freq. games).

The Future

This first version of Freq.Trigger will be made available on the iPhone, initially. But our ultimate intention is to port this to Android, PC, XBLA and other platforms in the near future. If we do manage to exceed our funding requirements, one of the primary stretch-goals will be to port the game over to Unity, and from there deploy to other major platforms.

Moreover, we're currently in discussions with several high profile bands who are interested in collaborating on Special Editions of the game - where the game then comes bundled with classic tracks, previously unreleased, and new material from those bands and we run specific competitions based on that music. We are not at liberty to mention who those bands are, at the moment. As soon as we can, we'll let you know.

Furthermore, beyond Freq.Trigger, we have another 23 games on paper, across the vast majority of genres (including puzzle games, platform games and racing games), all of which have been designed to use our Audio Kernel and respond to music. Our ultimate intention is to provide gamers with a variety of music-responsive games, so no matter what platform you game on (within reason) and whatever your favourite sort of games are, there will be a Freq. game you'll love.

But for now let's concentrate on getting this first game finished!

A Note on Rewards

All rewards offered are absolutely exclusive to Kickstarter. i.e. any t-shirt, medal or prefix/suffix mentioned are ONLY available to Backers. So acquire one or more of these and forever be known as one of the Inner Circle - one of the special people who made it happen.

Also don't underestimate the sheer awesomeness that will be the Backers' Private Forum. Here you will gain access to sneak peeks, behind the scenes information and Hang Outs with the developers so you get true insight into the inner workings down in the Freq. Bunker!

A Note on Stretch-Goals

If we do manage to exceed our funding requirements due to the Kickstarter Crowd's generosity, we'll let you know about our specific stretch-goals and what we aim to deliver with the increased funds at our disposal. This will include the opportunity of voting on the next Freq. game you guys would like us to build next + a whole raft of additional rewards we'll be able to factor in. Stay tuned!. :-)

Risks and challenges

The beauty of this project is that its largely complete. We're not starting from scratch here. Our audio analysis engine is complete and fully functional; and our game is virtually complete and fully tested to its current build. We recently submitted a pre-release build to Apple for approval, which was accepted. But as stated above, we want to add some key features to finish the game.

Because of this, many of the project risks we originally envisaged, considered and documented in our Risk Log have already been obviated and eliminated. Those that remain fall largely under the category of marketing and PR - and as such we are confident in our technical ability to successfully conclude the project. We have already proven this to ourselves, and Apple.

That said, any project of this magnitude requires tight reins to ensure all aspects of development are completed and tested and combine to make a great game. The good news is we have a fully qualified and experienced Project Manager to oversee the day-to-day running of the project, from the initial project brief, quality plan, acceptance criteria and risk log; through planning and scoping, and the defining of key milestones; to testing, signing off and ultimately project completion.

Another significant challenge is to ensure our audio analysis engine is developed within the philosophy of constant improvement. It already works fantastically - but we're not resting on our laurels. For this reason we are very pleased to announce that industry legend, Nicolas Fournel - who lectures regularly on the subject of Audio Programming - has agreed to come onboard as a consultant to ensure our Audio Kernel continues to evolve in sophistication and capability.

As the online scoreboard/player community site is an essential aspect to the overall product we have also brought onboard two talented web-developers rich in experience, whose previous clients include Playstation, EMI, Disney and the British Government (and you don't get much more stringent than the latter!).

At the core of our project is the necessity to ensure our game development team have the skills and experience to get the job done, and we went to great lengths to seek out the right people. People who have been involved in a number of high-profile products, like: Geometry Wars, Project Gotham Racing, Boom Boom Rocket, and The Club - and thus bring tried and tested skills to the project.

FAQ

Yes we will! With our intention to re-build Freq.Trigger in Unity and produce all future Freq. game builds in Unity - and with Unity now supporting Linux - we will certainly be deploying to Linux in the future. You can help us achieve this by backing this project and helping us go multi-platform!

Rewards

You selected

£1 reward

2 backers

The “Positive” tier - A big thank you and your name in lights on the ‘Backers’ page of our website // exclusive access to the ‘Backers Lounge’ - a special, private section in our forums. // A ‘Backers’ medal for your profile page on the website, plus a warm, fuzzy feeling for helping us out. :-)

Estimated delivery:Feb 2013

You selected

£5 reward

9 backers

The “Bunch of Fives” tier - All previous rewards + a free copy of the game (we aim to deliver this to you as a digital download before general release!) // + 5 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades). Great!

Estimated delivery:Feb 2013

You selected

£10 reward

6 backers

The “Binary” tier - all previous rewards + a selection of digital artwork from the game for your Facebook page or blog // + 10 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades). Awesome!

Estimated delivery:Feb 2013

You selected

£20 reward

8 backers

The “Natural 20” tier - all previous rewards + an extra copy of the game for a friend! (aren't you nice!) // + 23 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades). Fabulous!

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

You selected

£66 reward

2 backers

The “Critical Hit” tier - all previous rewards + the ‘Critical Backer’ icon for your name on the website (wherever you see your name, in forums, profile, scoreboards etc. there’ll be a little ‘Critical Backer’ icon next to it, so everyone knows how fantastic, generous and just plain cool you are) // + 66 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades). Fantastic!

Estimated delivery:Mar 2013

You selected

£92 reward

1 backer

The “Murder Temperature” tier - all previous rewards + the prefix of “Badboy" (or "-girl”) for your username on the website // nominate a song to be used as an achievement in the game! // + 92 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades). Sweet!

Estimated delivery:Mar 2013

You selected

£111 reward

2 backers

The “Triple Positive” tier - all previous rewards + your name in lights in the ‘Extra Special Thanks’ part of the credits on the actual game! // the suffix of “the Positive” for your username on the website // + a Kickstarter exclusive, Special Edition ‘Backer’ t-shirt (choose from 3 designs) // and 111 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades)!

Estimated delivery:Mar 2013

You selected

£357 reward

0 backers

The “Magnum” tier - all previous rewards + the prefix of “Special” or “Dirty” for your username on the website // two Special Edition ‘Backer’ t-shirts (choose from 3 designs) // an exclusive .pdf of concept art and background information from the development of the game // + 357 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades). Wahoo!

Estimated delivery:Mar 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

£667 reward

2 backers

The “Neighbor of the Beast” tier - all previous rewards + the suffix of “Actual” on the website // all three special edition ‘Backer’ t-shirts // +667 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades). Holy Moly!

Estimated delivery:Mar 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

£1,337 reward

0 backers

The “Elite” tier - all previous rewards + the prefix of “Leet” for your username on the website // + a competition run in your name, for a song of your choice // + 1337 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades). The world would be a better place with more people like you in it!

Estimated delivery:Mar 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

£4,321 reward

0 backers
Limited (10 left of 10)

The “Countdown” tier - all previous rewards + the prefix or suffix of "King" (or "Queen") for your name on the website // PLUS contribute to the creation of a custom background featured in the game! // + 4321 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades). AND a free copy of every future Freq. game we make. - If this doesn't make you feel good you must be dead inside. :-)

Estimated delivery:Mar 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

£5,000 reward

0 backers
Limited (1 left of 1)

The “There can be only one” tier - all previous rewards + the title of “Emperor” prefixed to your username on the website // Name an upgrade! (i.e. Bill’s BFG) that all players can buy with Freq. Bucks! // + 5000 Freq.Bucks (to spend on in-game upgrades) // PLUS a free copy of every future Freq. game we make on every platform! // AND dinner with the Directors for you and one guest (which if you’ve seen the way we eat, may not be such a good thing!). General fame and adulation! :-)

Estimated delivery:Mar 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

Funding period

Nov 28, 2012 - Dec 28, 2012
(30 days)

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